He stared at her, but she said nothing more. A second later Willa’s snores returned.
The next morning he dressed before Willa awoke, and he headed down to the main floor of the mansion. He found Boone and Justin drinking coffee together in the duke’s study. Justin motioned for him to join them. “I’ll have Cameron bring another cup and a refill on the carafe.”
While the duke punched the intercom for the kitchen, Boone looked Max over. “Sleep okay?”
He couldn’t say for certain, but there seemed to be a mischievous light in Boone’s eyes, for some reason. “As well as can be possible with everything going on.”
Justin hung up the phone and glanced at him. “I got a call from General Lessway earlier. He’s in Tybee now and assembling his troops. There’s been no further sign of my grandmother, however.”
On the one hand, it relieved him to know that other than her destruction at the stationhouse, Reva wasn’t terrorizing the citizens of the island. But on the other, he didn’t like having her dropped off the radar.
“It’s occurred to me, one way that we could guarantee hindering my grandmother’s plans of Armageddon.” Justin cleared his throat. “Find the trident before she does.”
Similar thoughts had occurred to Max, but how the hell did they go about it when the only two people who knew where it was hidden didn’t remember the trident’s location?
The ghost of Willa’s voice popped into his head. Help me remember, Max. Her subconscious had been telling him there was a way to return her memories.
But how? The mind sweeper had done a damn good job disposing of them.
He frowned. No, that wasn’t entirely correct. As evidenced by her vision yesterday, not all of the memories were gone. More like only buried. And now that he thought about it, he recalled Aurele mentioning that the mind sweeper warned her about the effects possibly wearing off.
The mind sweeper. If anyone knew how to go about returning Willa’s memories, it would be him. Excitement rushed through Max’s veins at the realization. Of course! “Why the hell didn’t I think of that before?”
Both Boone and Justin stared at him. He offered them a lopsided smile. “Sorry, just thinking out loud.” Reaching for his cell phone, he stood and excused himself on the pretense of making a call to his deputy. Not trusting the possibility of eavesdropping ears, he headed back up to his and Willa’s suite. She was still sleeping, so he ducked into the bathroom. The damn space was practically bigger than his house. Scrolling through his address book, he found the number to a contact he had at the SSOMM—Secret Service of the Marine Military.
The man answered on the second ring. “Jerrit speaking.”
“Jerrit, it’s Max Truitt.” After some brief pleasantries, Max got right to the point. “I’m hoping you can give me some information. I need to track down a mind sweeper.”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “That might be difficult.”
Ah, so Jerrit knew what he was talking about. At least that was something. “I don’t care what it takes. Just tell me how to go about it.”
“Your best bet would be going through Frank Vincent.”
“Vincent? But…”
“Yeah, like I said, it’s gonna be tough.”
Thanking Jerrit for his help, Max hung up and resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall. Pocketing his cell phone, he stepped out into the bedroom. Willa was stirring beneath the sheets. He crossed to her, giving her a thorough kiss good morning. She twined her arms around him, her nipples brushing against his shirt. A knock rapped at the door and he groaned. “If that’s the maid, she has lousy timing.”
He strode to the door and cracked it open. Boone stood on the other side. “Can I come in?”
Max looked over his shoulder at Willa. “It’s Boone. You might want to hide beneath the covers.”
Boone grinned. “Now why’d you have to go and suggest that, you asshole?”
“Because I know what a lecherous Peeping Tom you are.”
Strangely enough, a hint of pink tinted Boone’s face. The sound of sheets rustling let Max know that Willa had properly covered herself, and he let Boone inside. Of course Boone’s gaze veered to Willa the second he cleared the doorway. Huddled beneath the thick down comforter, she returned Boone’s stare.
Max coughed pointedly. “Was there something you wanted?”
Boone pivoted. “Yeah. What was up with you earlier in Justin’s study when he mentioned searching for the trident?”
“I think he’s right. We need to get to it before Reva does.”
Clutching the covers tight to her breasts, Willa wiggled into a sitting position. He didn’t fail to notice how Boone took a little too long pulling his gaze away from her.
“And how, exactly, do you plan on doing that?” she demanded.
“By you getting your memories back. I put in a call to a friend of mine. There might be a possible lead to tracking down the mind sweeper.”
She eyed him, her expression skeptical. “Really?”
“Yep. With any luck, we might be one step closer to retrieving the trident. And you being one hundred percent you again.”
She bit her lip. “I’m not sure how I feel about that. I kind of like myself fine without, you know, nympho butting in all the time.”
He crossed to the bed and sat down, facing her. “She’s part of who you are, Willa. Why do you keep resisting that fact?” The visual of her impaled on his cock, absorbed in bringing them both to shattering climaxes, shuttled through his mind. Clearly there were times when she didn’t resist the call of her nymph at all.
As if she’d read his mind, her cheeks flushed. Unable to help himself, he leaned forward and kissed her. It wasn’t until he noticed her gaze darting sideways that he remembered Boone. Reluctantly, he inched away from Willa’s lush mouth and glanced toward the doorway. Boone was blatantly staring at them, his eyes lit with an inner heat. It didn’t even require the swelling evidence behind the fly of Boone’s jeans to know he was turned on.
Max grunted. “Extreme reaction to watching an innocent kiss, pervert.” The sarcasm was as much for his benefit as Boone’s. Because truthfully, the notion he’d provided his friend a little voyeuristic thrill aroused Max more than it probably should.
“I saw you both. Last night.”
Boone’s husky statement drew Max’s attention like a magnet. “What do you mean?”
“Let’s just say you should do a better job of ensuring the connecting door to our rooms is shut all the way.”
Willa frowned. “Our door?”
“I heard you scream. My first instinct was that Reva somehow broke into your room, so I got out of bed to investigate. Only…I got an entirely different eyeful than what I was expecting.”
“What did you see?” Willa pressed.
“Us.” Max swallowed, attempting to shake the gravel from his voice. “Making love.”
Willa sucked in a breath, her cheeks blazing red. “I attacked you again, didn’t I?”
“Darlin’, he didn’t look like he was complaining. And neither was I.”
Max growled. “How long were you standing there?”
“Long enough to get off.”
“Jesus, Boone.” Despite the censure he’d loaded into the words, a bolt of excitement kicked Max square in the groin knowing that while he and Willa had been fucking their brains out, Boone had been coming right along with them. It was also interesting to note that Willa’s nipples were poking into the sheet, her bottom lip swollen from her constant nibbling.
She was equally aroused by what Boone had just admitted. It relieved him greatly, knowing he apparently wasn’t the only one with some exhibitionist fantasies.